Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What turned you on to guns?

My Grandpa, big time. My grandparents were from SW Pa. That area is VERY rich in firearms and hunting tradition. This coupled well with being raised in rural N.C. I am very grateful to my Grandpa for getting me started in shooting and hunting. His Great Grandson took a buck with his Great Grandpa’s hunting rifle this past season.

They can neutralize enemies, foreign and domestic.

DNA

I come from a background in hunting and shooting on both sides of the family, and we always had guns around. From about the ago of 7 I was tagging along with various members of my father's side of the family, after rabbits and such, on the family farm and those of the neighbours (most of whom were related to me). I learned how to set traps before I learned to shoot.

maternal grandparents used to practice with a Flobert style pistol in their house in Zurich, and my mother's father had been introduced to big game hunting in Europe by his father, so they were pretty keen too, and this grandfather also introduced me to spearfishing from a young age, as well as getting me into the Swiss rifle club in Sydney.

IIRC I first fired a live round at 8, from my (paternal) grandfather's 20 ga. I was given my own rifle, a .22, at 10.

FWIW I learned to ride and fish at about the same time too, and to drive not all that much later.

My Dad had been interested in guns as a teenager and young man but sold most of them once he started dairy farming and raising kids. He did keep a Winchester model 67 22 LR and an Ithaca 37 20 gauge. As I got older I got interested in trapping and hunting and Dad got out the guns and taught my brother and I to shoot safely. He didn't tolerate any nonsense with guns. Out of that interest sprang my participation in the high school rifle club and rifle team. I shot on the varsity team for four years. My brother shot some but lost interest in college. I couldn't read enough and followed many of the gun writers of the 70's. O'Conner, Askins, Brown, Keith, Carmichael, Page, Whelen, Wooters, Milek and Skelton to name a few. I devoured every major gunmaker's annual brochure. The Herters catalog would be dogeared and worn beyond belief when the next edition arrived.

Dad could speak gun well though he didn't hunt anymore and didn't shoot, other than to dispatch a wood chuck on occasion or mete out justice on a marauding fox or raccoon. He always found away to let us hunt, trap and fish, as long as the chores were done.

In later years we would talk a couple times a week. He was a voracious reader and often had questions about one gun or another he'd read of in a book. I had to keep some of my reference books handy. He seemed to come up with some obscure gun questions fairly frequently.

Now, fifty years after my first lesson with a gun, the fascination still holds. My interests have varied from one genre to another over time but I am still a undeniable gun nut.

I don't have a clue.

Born in 64. Bonanza (loved Little Joe) and Gunsmoke on TV, not to mention all the TV cop shows, Star Trek with their phazers. Seemed to always have toy guns. Dad had a few guns I got to shoot by age 6 or 7. Shot gophers. He hunted a little.

As soon as I was legal age, 14, I bought my first rifle.

I just always loved guns, hunting and recreational guns. Nothing fancy, just utilitarian quality.

My father went hunting, fishing, and made things in the garage.
I wanted to be like him.

My grandson just turned 2. He waddles around in diapers with an electric screwdriver with full battery pack, trying to take the phillips head screws out of kitchen cabinets. He keeps saying, "tools tools"

He has seen me do handyman work at his house.

My 4 year old grandson told me he had a dream that we shot deer with rifles, cut them up, and fed them to lions and tigers. He knows the venison he eats came from me shooting deer.

Awesome post!!!

Grew up on a farm in a small bush town. The family had guns so I grew up using them daily. Given an air rifle as a birthday present when I was 12.

I was raised around them and liked them as far back as I can remember. I also watched a lot of westerns, cop and military shows and movies.

I don't remember a house that didn't have a glass-front gun cabinet or gun racks on the walls.

Most of my early childhood memories of my Dad involve either a hammer or a rifle in his hands. He was/still is a home builder and hunter at 75. He turned me on to guns, hunting and home building. Of course wife and our kids come first, but beyond them the other three have pretty much dominated my adult life.

I do not know. Neither my Dad nor my Grandfather, that lived close hunted. They fished but did not hunt. I had no children that lived close to play with, other than my Sister, and she was never interested in doing anything outdoors. I did listen to the Lone Ranger and Hop-a-long Cassidy on the radio. I got my first BB gun when I was five, and have been very interested in guns and Hunting ever since I can remember. miles

Not having any while growing up in Africa.

This life-long love affair with all things firearm/hunting was passed down from my late Dad. He gave me my first rifle, a single shot .22, when I was five, and instilled in me a healthy respect for firearms safety. I used to tag along with him on his Saturday morning rabbit hunts long before I was old enough to carry a shotgun. He never took me to his deer club, "too much drinkin' and cussin'." But he did take me on my first out-of-state deer hunt in Maine, in '72, when I was 14.

Grew up in a family that hunted and both my dad and grandfather packed a pistol on a daily basis. Got guns as Christmas presents, and my daddy started taking me hunting when I was old enough to shoot, about age 6.